Lakewood's share in repairing
sewers damaged by the W. 117th St. explosion will be $300,000, Mayor Amos
I. Kauffman will inform Council tonight.

Kauffman had previously
asked Council to issue $250,000 in council-manic bonds as Lakewood's share.
Now, he said, additional repairs must be made to the 24-inch sewer on Hopkins
Ave., the 24-inch line on Coutant Ave., the five-foot sewer on Detroit
Ave., and the 54-inch line on the north side of Lake Ave.

Three property owners
have submitted prices for land to be purchased for the new municipal parking
lot just north of Detroit Ave. and Warren Rd., Kauffman reported.
They are: land at 1371 Cook Ave., $13,500; 1376-78 Warren Rd., $15,000;
Warren Rd., $15,000.

At least six persons,
two of them children, were killed and 30 injured when high winds and lightning
destroyed buildings and damaged the Greater Cleveland area heavily at 9:45
last night.

The situation in Lakewood
was so severe that Ohio National Guard headquarters in Columbus dispatched
50 guardsmen there to keep order.

Damage was centered on
the West Side and western suburbs. The weather bureau at Cleveland
Hopkins Airport measured up to 70 miles an hour.

Worst casualty toll came
from the Scenery Tavern, 4103 Pearl Road S.W., where the two children and
a man were killed and several persons were injured when the building collapsed.

The injured were taken
to City, St. Vincent Charity, Deaconess, Lakewood, Fairview Park and Lutheran
Hospitals.

Much of the West Side,
including most of Lakewood and Rocky River, was without power. The
Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. reported 15,000 homes darkened.
CEI crews worked through the night.

Lakewood police fought
to reach a man believed killed when a tree crushed his car in Clifton Park.

Rocky River firemen estimated
damage at the Detroit Road shopping center there at $500,000.

New, violent thunderstorms
accompanied by hail and 70-mile winds last night hit the greater Cleveland
area still soggy from earlier deluges.

Damage was reportedly
heaviest on the West Side, with a building damaged, many windows blown
out, trees downed, utility wires snapped and poles broken.

Residents of Baxterly
Avenue in Lakewood reported they saw what looked "like a small funnel-shaped
cloud" just before high winds ripped out two 7-foot high maple trees there
between the 2000 block.

Shingles were also pulled
from roofs there and scattered in the street.

Cleveland police reported
they were holding all men on emergency duty past their 11 p.m. quitting
time.

More than 200 persons
escaped injury when a 40-by-8-foot section of the Lyceum Theatre roof fell.
The section fell into a stairwell and men's room of the structure at 3545
Fulton Road S.W.

Customers filed out,
a theatre man said, when the lights there failed after the roof fell.

Police reported most
of the windows in the W. 137th-Lorain shopping center blown out by high
winds that accompanied the new storm at 9:30 p.m.

Traffic had to be routed
around the W. 150th Street-Lorain intersection when a power pole was knocked
down. Its wires snapped and sparked in the street.

Wires were also reported
down on Woburn Avenue S.W.

The home of Mr. and Mrs.
Villoni, 3333 W. 58th Street, was smashed when two oak trees fell and struck
it, one from the front and one from the side.

A 50-year-old elm tree
was felled at 1700 Wright Avenue, Rocky River. It missed the home
at that address and the house at 1694. An elm was also felled at
1712 Wright.

Many streets were reported
flooded on both the West and East sides.

FOOT OF WATER

Coit Road N.E. was reportedly
under a foot of water, while some Heights streets were flooded three feet
deep, police said. Meadowbrook Boulevard between Lee and Silsby'
Roads was one of the flooded streets.

Police said they were
cutting off traffic on the Willow Freeway at Fleet Avenue S.E. Police
radio was so confused that Central Station officers could not determine
the trouble there.

A blind woman was reported
trapped in her home at 3801 Grosvenor Road, South Euclid, when water flooded
her basement. Police said she did not know how to turn off gas there.
They were headed for the scene. Scranton Road S.W. between W. 25th
Street and City Hospital was reported completely blocked by fallen trees
and wires.

John Chonko, 3570 W.
61st Street, reported part of the roof of the Cleveland Container Co. factory
next door to him was blown off and demolished the back porch of Chonko's
home.

The whole Coventry Road
- Lancashire Road area in Cleveland Heights looks like a lake, another
called reported.

She said apartment buildings
were flooded and automobiles stalled in a two-block area.

A large maple tree was
blown down a struck house at 1629 Wyandotte Avenue, Lakewood, the home
of Mr. and Mrs. Otto H. Sedgewick. No one was injured.

The weather bureau at
Cleveland Hopkins Airport reported no rain or violent storms at its station.
Radar there picked up two large disturbances over Lake Erie.

TREE BLOCKS ROAD

Hilliard Road west of
Concord Drive in Lakewood was across it.

Garage doors were blown
off and house windows broken when a gust hit a home at 20841 Avalon Drive,
Rocky River. Damage was severe in that area.

MAIN BREAKS

East Ohio Gas Co. repair
crews were working on a broken main at W. 73rd. Street and Madison Avenue
N.W.

Garages and trees were
blown over in the W. 61st Street section of Brooklyn.

The Cleveland Electric
Illuminating Co. reported more than 5,000 West Side homes were without
power as eight 4,600 volt feeder lines were downed.

Areas worst struck by
the power failure were in the W. 61st Street-Bridge Avenue district and
in the Lorain Avenue-W. 130th Street Section.

CREWS CALLED

More than 35 CEI trouble
crews were called out to repair damage.

A two-story frame house
on Meyer Avenue S.W. was virtually blown apart by the high winds.
Debris littered the street, blocking traffic.

Police said two occupants
of the houses had been taken to a hospital.

Water surged up close
to houses on South Belvoir Boulevard, Cleveland Heights. Miss Mary
G. Dawson, 1473 S. Belvoir, reported.

Lights were out on Parkwood
Road, Lakewood, and two trees were felled at the home of George Webb, 1658
Parkwood. Utility poles were damaged and telephone service failed.

At E. 123rd Street and
Arlington Avenue N.E., a taxicab was half submerged in water. Driver
and passengers were seen perched on the roof of the cab awaiting rescue.

In Lakewood two oak trees
at the home of John Katorak, 1642 Woodward Avenue, were blown over.
One of the trees, to the rear of the home, fell on Kantorak's auto and
crushed it. A tree in front of the house fell on a neighbor's house.

A gas meter blew off
in a home at 1895 W. 7lst Street. Gas was leaking a called said.

Within a minute after
Jack Allison took his wife and four small sons into the basement of their
home at 1353 Sloane Avenue in Lakewood, a tree four feet in diameter crashed
into the house, knocking off the front porch and smashing an upstairs bedroom.

It was the largest tree
on the street, and one of many blown down.

WINDOWS BROKEN

Plate glass windows in
shops across the street from Hotel Westlake were blown out.

Three parked cars were
crushed when a tree behind 1370 Sloane was ripped out.

For the second time in
two days, basements of eight homes along Woodrow Avenue in Mayfield Heights
were flooded. Residents reported three feet of water along Woodrow
between Lander and SOM Center Roads.

Two cars and a trackless
trolley were stalled in a New York Central viaduct at E. 131st Street and
St. Clair. Water reached the windows of the two automobiles.

Trees fell across several
homes and garages in the Clifton Park area, Lakewood, and electric lines
were down. Trees crashed on homes at 1204 and 1208 Overlook Road
and 1222 and 18111 Clifton Road.

Several cars were
marooned by high waters at Meadowbrook Boulevard and Lee Road, Cleveland
Heights.

GARAGE FALLS

At 6536 SOM Center Road,
Solon, a garage was ripped to bits by the winds and scattered in a field
next door.

West Lake Road, Rocky
River, at Breezedale Cove, was blocked by fallen trees. Several cars
were damaged by the falling trees.

House trailers were overturned
near the Clague Road intake.

A resident on Saranac
Road N.E. was rowing a boat in the street, Mrs. Josephine Martin, 14502
Saranac, said.

Wires were down on Chatfield
Avenue S.W. Several large windows were blown out of houses on W.
157th near Chatfield.

In Lakewood, Richland
Avenue and Brown and Bunts Roads were blocked by fallen trees. Many
windows were damaged.

Mrs. Frank Esposito,
14525 Saranac Avenue N.E. said she saw a man in a rowboat in the middle
of Saranac near Pepper Avenue N.E. She said the rowboat was going
up and down the street.

50 CARS STALLED

Flooding along Cleveland
Memorial Shoreway N.E. especially on the last mile, stalled at least
50 cars and caused dozens of minor damage accidents when wet brakes refused
to function properly.

Traffic was proceeding
along only one lane for several hours.

The 100-foot radio tower
of the Westlake Cab Co. was blown down on top of the company building,
19061 Depot Street, Rocky River.

Large display windows
in the Rocky River shopping district on Detroit Road from Wooster Road
west. Merchandise was strewn in the streets.

GREENHOUSES FALL

Two green houses were
flattened at Orchard Park Avenue NW. at Triskett Road.

A roof, apparently from
a gasoline station, was blown into the street at Berea Road NW and Triskett,
blocking traffic. Munn Road N.W. also was closed.

Volunteer squads of citizens
went into action all over the West Side, especially in the area around
Pearl Road, to help direct traffic away from the hundreds of live electrical
wires knocked down.

Residents of the area
from Lake Avenue to Detroit Road west to Wooster Road were sealed into
their homes, unable to go anywhere because of the littered, dangerous streets.

West Clifton Park was
inaccessible.

PORCH TORN OFF

A porch was ripped off
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Spenser Reeder, 17879 Lake Ave. Lakewood.

A car was stranded in
water on W. 140th Street just north of Lorain Avenue with two live wires
across the top of its roof. There were two persons trapped in the
auto.

Trees were down and power
was out over widespread areas in Rocky River and Bay Village, Bay View
Hospital was operating with lights, however, although its phones were out.

SIT ON CAR ROOF

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Nimmo,
904 E. 123rd Street, sat on the roof of their car for an hour with water
up to the windows at E. 123rd Street and Arlington Avenue N.E. Their car
was finally pulled out by a tow truck.

At the same intersection
the occupants of a stalled Yellow cab were seen sitting on the taxi's roof
as water swirled through the windows.

Michael Voleski stopped
his CTS bus at the brink of the deep water despite the urging of some of
his passengers who wanted him to go on. The bus was stalled for more
than an hour.

ALL STREETS BLOCKED

In Lakewood, Ralph Novak,
public relations director for Catholic Charities, reported all the crosstown
streets in his neighborhood near Lincoln and Madison Avenues were blocked
by large branches.

A large tree fell on
Lincoln beside St. Clement's Catholic Church at Madison. Novak reported
residents of the neighborhood quickly cleared the smaller obstructions
chopping and sawing the larger branches and dragging them up on tree lawns.

A gas main was broken
on Denison Avenue S.W. The street was blocked off from 73rd Street
to Lorain Avenue while the main was repaired. The odor of gas was
strong throughout the area.

TREE STRIKES

The home of Ralph Villoni,
3333 W. 58th Street, was severely damaged when an old maple tree in front
of the house was uprooted and broke over the roof.

"We were sitting in the
front room when this terrific wind hit about 10 p.m." Villoni said.
"My wife and I ran through a trap door into the basement. Then the
tree smashed down on the house."

STREET LIGHTS OUT

A large part of the trunk
completely flattened out a glass enclosed side porch.

Villoni's wife Ann was
struck on the head when the trap door flew off. It broke her glasses
and left her hysterical.

Along the street debris
from smashed trees and tangled electric wires filled sidewalks and driveways.

COUPLE RESCUED

All street lights were
out and boys with flashlights directed traffic around fallen trees.

While large blocks of
homes were without electricity, a number of homes here and there still
had lights. Most telephones in the area were out of order.

An unidentified elderly
couple was rescued from a station wagon marooned in four feet of water
at the railroad underpass on St. Clair Avenue N.E. at E. 131st Street.

Patrolmen John J. Butler
and Louis Kunchick with help from Lawrence L. Rieth, 23, of 12537 Lancelot
Avenue N.E. effected the rescue. They carried the couple to a Diesel
truck which also was under the bridge.

Three other cars were
abandoned there, they said.

Fire trucks enroute to
the fire at 14114 St. Clair Avenue could not pass through the area and
had to take a detour.

Forty to 50 apartment
dwellers were driven into the street when the roof of the building at Madison
Avenue N.W. and West Boulevard was blown off, exposing 25 suites.
The Rose Drug Store is on the first
floor of the structure. Extensive damage was done
to some of the apartments.

As The Post went to press,
Senator George H. Bender and Congressman William E. Minshall, after a personal
tour of Rocky River and Lakewood, were poised in Washington to accelerate
immediately and by every possible means, Federal relief recommendations
from Gov. Frank J. Lausche for Lakewood as well as expected approved request
of Rocky River.

Behind the headlines,
the disaster story as it relates to normal operation of Lakewood and River,
was terse, stark and beyond contradiction. Lakewood immediate needs
totals between $600,000 and $750,000 and River requires an aggregate of
between $50,000 and $100,000 for immediately essential public cleanup and
repair service. The alternative in Lakewood would be some undetermined
form of deficit financing; River could conceivably get over the hump by
maximum borrowing and starvation municipal operation during the balance
of the year. Senator Bender suggested $3,000,000 as a level for total
Federal assistance in the two communities.

Ohio defense representatives,
sent here to advise Gov. Lausche, saw, appeared impressed, had to be silent
pending report in Columbus. Met at the airport late Tuesday afternoon
by
Mayors Frank P. Celeste and J. Frank Gibson, River service director Lyle
Andrus and representatives of the Post, both Senator Bender and Congressman
Minshall inspected, inquired and voiced definite opinion that needs and
financial problems had been conservatively represented by the mayors.
They termed quickest possible action all important, pledged elimination
of all possible red tape in Washington. Mean while the legislators
promised to facilitate obtaining of government equipment and help in finishing
the clean up job. They called attention to readiness of the Small
Business Administration to proffer immediate aid, offered assistance of
their offices to businesses and individuals with problems in Washington.

Meanwhile an objective
Post survey Tuesday and yesterday morning made apparent the fact that best
estimates of private losses, insured and uninsured, could be little more
than informed guesses for some days. Similarly nothing approaching
an accurate figure for tree removal, paving and sidewalk repairs, reinforcement
of installations is yet possible, Mayor Celeste had admittedly sketchy
figures yesterday showing Lakewood dwelling and apartment loss of some
$2,500,000 and damage to the city's twelve major industrial plants aggregating
$1,500,000 in addition to the indeterminate amount entailed in destruction
of commercial property and churches. With city and school losses
added, $6,000,000 to $7,500,000 seemed a reasonable summation of cost to
Lakewood. In River, where damage was more restricted in area but
even more intense in spots, particularly on and immediately off Detroit
road, an overall $1,500,000 appeared a reasonable overall guess.

Both Mayors Gibson and
Celeste pointed to scores of already apparent conflicts in municipal and
private responsibility for tree removal and repairs. Both chief executives
are following a policy of assuming a legal maximum of responsibility in
controversial instances pending clarification. Factor which brought
most comment during the Bender-Minshall tour was progress already made
by both eliminating threats to safety and traffic obstacles. Virtually
all streets on both sides of the bridge were open by Tuesday to traffic
save for occasional blocking by debris removal operation.

"It is difficult to express
adequately appreciation for help immediately offered and freely given in
time of emergency," is, in essence, a thought constantly repeated by Mayors
Celeste and Gibson. Room is not available here for a listing of requested
acknowledgments typical of which was praise of Mayor Gibson for unstinted
work of Bay Village's street department in Rocky River through Saturday
night and Sunday under direction of Bay Mayor J. Spencer Houck.

Operation Cleanup, in
the wake of vicious winds that wrought havoc in Northern Ohio a week ago
tonight, will move on apace today and tomorrow.

Cleveland is keeping
its cleanup crew of 700 on hte job over the weekend. Rocky River, where
some 40 or 50 workers have been at the task all week, will add an additional
25 or so today and tomorrow.

In Lakewood some 200
Civil Defense volunteers will pitch in.

Lausche Visits

Gov. Frank J. Lausche
and George Rothrock, regional director of the Federal Civil Defense Administration,
arrived here yesterday by plane. Rothrock later will establish a
headquarters here, probably in the Central Armory.

Over the weekend and
early next week officials of Cleveland, Lakewood and Rocky River will meet
separately with CD officials to determine allocation of funds and to set
policies. This follows the declaration of northern Ohio as a major
disaster area by President Eisenhower.

Mayor Gibson, who earlier
was incensed by lack of help and so informed Gov. Lausche by telegram,
found help pouring in. The city acquired the use of two cranes with
clamshells to remove stumps of trees after Gov. Lausche telephoned Gibson,
telling him to call on the State Highway Department. The state forestry
division telephoned to offer a truck and was taken up on its offer.
The state Civil Defense administrator telephoned with assistance.

"It was things like that
that we needed," remarked Gibson.

Lakewood volunteers will
be fed by the Red Cross, which will serve two meals today and two tomorrow
in Horace Mann Junior High School to workers. The Red Cross is assuming
the cost.

Cleveland is throwing
into the cleanup job 20 trucks lent by Cuyahoga County and seeks more equipment
from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Red Cross is closing
its disaster assistance headquarters in the Second District Police Station,
Daisy Avenue and Fulton Road S.W., this afternoon. The station in
Rocky River City Hall will remain open, and so will the one in the Lakewood
Red Cross branch.

There also is a Red Cross
representative at disaster assistance headquarters on the Mall. The
Red Cross there is part of a larger plan under which householders, small
businessmen and the like can be put in touch with lending agencies, contractors
and so forth.

A report of May 12 storm
damage will be given to Council tonight by Lakewood Mayor Frank Celeste.
The storm cost the city about $250,000 for repairs and clean-up.

Lakewood will ask $102,000
in disaster aid form the federal Government, Mayor Celeste said.
Two applications totaling $67,00 have been submitted. A third for
$35,000 is now being prepared. Celeste said 5135 truck loads or 13,921
tons of debris were hauled from Lakewood .

On Monday a committee
representing civic and service organizations interested in planned tree
planting and replacement in Lakewood, met in the office of Mayor Frank
P. Celeste. Lakewood lost 3,000 trees in the windstorm of 1956.
In addition the city's streets are gradually losing trees due to Dutch
Elm disease and other blights and each year many residents demand destruction
of trees causing clogged sewer lines.

With the cooperation
and use of facilities of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, a
survey of all the streets of Lakewood has been made, and a tree planting
program has been worked out.

The Mayor has been notified
of the action of the Committee in adopting the master tree planting plan,
and has been requested to submit to Council necessary legislation to adopt
the recommended plan as the official plan for Lakewood. Mayor Celeste
will probably present details of the plan and request for necessary legislation
at the next meeting of Council.

The storm was not a tornado,
as far as the weather bureau at Cleveland-Hopkins airport knows so far.

Weather Observer John
McClain said there was a chance that it might be reclassified as a tornado
after Chief Weather Observer Harold Burke surveys the damage this morning.

He said the nature of
the damage -- whether trees are twisted off or blown over and other indicators
-- would determine the question.

Although he termed the
classification of the storm merely an academic question at this point,
McClain said one indication that it was not a tornado was the lack of reports
of funnel-shaped clouds.

Only one such report
was received. McClain said that one seemed questionable -- this despite
the fact that frequent lightning flashes made the clouds easily visible.
He said that at the time of the tornado in June, 1953, the weather bureau
received numberous reports of funnel-shaped clouds.

Bruised and battered
a year ago by on of the Greater Cleveland's worst storms, West Side residents
yesterday had only few faint scars to show.

But memories were still
vivid of the wind that lashed the area on May 12, 1956, killing seven persons
and injuring 70.

The worst storm here
since the tornado of June 8, 1953, the tragedy of last year affected more
people than the earlier one, although the death toll and total property
damage were not so severe.

Typical of those who
lost heavily a year ago was Mrs. Esther Steinbrick. She and her son
Charles, operate Steinbrick's Greenhouse at 14335 Triskett Road N.W.

Two of the concern's
six greenhouses were flattened by the wind. Fifteen hundred panes
of glass were shattered in those left standing.

"The tomatoes were just
ready for picking," Mrs. Steinbrick said yesterday. "They were all
cut up by the broken glass..."

The spot where the two
green houses blew down is still vacant, but the other four were repaired
soon after the storm and an addition was built. The Steinbricks hope
to rebuild a two-story garage which was so extensively damaged that it
was condemned.

A few blocks away, a
filling station at Berea and Triskett Roads still shows marks where the
roof and parts of all four walls were torn off and later replaced.

At 1353 Sloane Avenue,
Lakewood, a new front has been built on the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Allison,
who huddled in the basement with their four children while a huge tree
crashed into the dwelling.

One of the most grim
reminders of the storm is on Pearl Road. S. W. near Henninger Avenue.

It is a vacant lot where
the Scenery Tavern stood until that horrifying night when the world blew
loose. The building collapsed on five parked cars. Three persons,
including two small children, were killed there.

The other victims included
two men who brushed electric wires and a 19-year old youth crushed when
a tree fell on his car. The seventeenth death came eight days later
when an 84-year old man died of injuries received in fall down basement
stairs.

One of the persons seriously
injured was an auxiliary policeman hit by a car while directing traffic
at W. 117th Street and Lorain Avenue, where the traffic light was out.

Hardest hit that night
were Lakewood and Rocky River, where thousands of trees crashed down.

More than 50 streets
were closed in Lakewood. Officials there estimated damage at several
million dollars.

Rocky River pupils got
a vacation when almost all of the suburb's schools were damaged.
Beach Elementary School was closed for the rest of the semester after a
chimney went through the roof.

While the West Side was
catching the wind, the East Side was getting tons of rain. Flooded
basements were reported throughout the Heights area. Policemen worked
overtime clearing blocked intersections.

At St. Clair Avenue N.E.
and E. 131st Street, two autos and a CTS trackless trolley were marooned
in a flooded underpass. Fire trucks answering an alarm farther east
could not get past, with the result that the second alarm was turned in.

Another blaze at the
height of the storm caused $750,000 damage to the Federal Department Store
at Brookpark and Pearl Roads S.W.

Like most storms, this
one had its freakish angles.

Walls of the Kamms Corners
Recreation building at 3868 Rocky River Dr. S.W. were blown down.
They had been spared by a fire that wrecked the structure the preceding
December.

An amateur meteorologist
on Beach Avenue, Lakewood, watched the windgauge on his home rise to 100
m.p.h. Then the gauge blew away.

A wedding reception was
under way at Sachsenheim Hall, 7001 Denison Avenue S.W., when the lights
went out. The celebration continued by candlelight.

At the Plain Dealer,
then in the old building at Superior Avenue N.E. and E. 6th Street, word
of the storm began to filter in about 10:15 p.m., just as "day side" reporters
were ready to leave for home.

The city editor grabbed
all available. Reporter Emerson L. Batdorff later found himself marooned
at City Hospital when transportation and telephones broke down.

Copyreader Don Robertson
was taken off the "desk" and sent to the Scenery Tavern. Two other
copyreaders were put on rewrite telephones.

Reporters and photographers
produced numerous columns of storm news and pictures on almost no notice
and earned the Plain Dealer of Cleveland Newspaper Guild award for the
coverage.

Through it all ran the
one big issue raised by thousands of Greater Clevelanders: "Don't try to
tell me this wasn't a tornado!"

The Weather Bureau at
Cleveland Hopkins Airport stuck by its guns. In the books it is still
recorded as a line squall.

Lausche to Issue Proclamation
Today to Make Suburb Eligible for U.S. Help; Cleveland and Rocky River
Await Word

Gov. Frank J. Lausche
said last night he would issue a proclamation today declaring the existence
of a major disaster in Lakewood.

This action will make
the suburb eligible for federal money to be used for storm damage cleanup
and repair of damages to public property.

Lausche said requests
of Cleveland and Rocky River for federal aid still were being investigated
and action must await the filing of reports by the state adjutant general's
office.

The proclamation on Lakewood
will be forwarded to the White House with a copy to Val Peterson, director
of the Federal Civil Defense Administration.

"Moreover," Lausche said,
"the directors of the State Highway Department and Natural Resources Department
will be instructed to give whatever aid the law of Ohio will permit in
removal of debris and cutting and removal of fallen trees."

Help and promise of help
for storm-stricken West Side areas came also from other sources.These were developments
yesterday:

The Small Business Administration
in Washington, on recommendation of Fred W. Ramsey, director for this region,
declared Cuyahoga and Portage Counties disaster areas. This will
authorize the agency to make 3% loans up to 20 years to home owners and
small businesses for rehabilitation of storm damage.

U. S. Senator George
H. Bender and Congressman William E. Minshall Jr., after a tour of the
Lakewood and Rocky River areas blasted by Saturday night's wind, said they
would report directly to Civil Defense Director Peterson to urge government
financial aid for the communities.

They advised Mayor J.
Frank Gibson of Rocky River and Mayor Frank P. Celeste of Lakewood to ask
for $3,000,000 between them.

A representative of Peterson's
office flew in last night to inspect the suburbs and make recommendations
to his chief on whether damage was severe enough to justify federal aid.

Mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze
called a meeting in his office for 9 a.m. today to consider the advisability
of opening the "Operation Demonstrate" information center on the Mall as
a one-stop source of advice for storm victims needing to know where and
how to get help.

Invited to the meeting
were representatives of the Building Department, the Better Business Bureau,
the Building Trades Council, the Home Builders Association, The Institute
of Architects, the Red Cross, insurance adjustment organizations, lending
institutions and internal revenue.

Ramsey, for the Small
Business Administration, said the 3% rehabilitation loans would be made
"on reasonable collateral when ability to repay is indicated." Loan applications
will be received at the SBA office on the fourth floor of the Federal Reserve
Building.

Estimate Costs

The Rocky River and Lakewood
mayors estimated their communities' need at far less than the three million
dollar request suggested by Bender and Minshall.

Celeste said about $750,000
would do the job in Lakewood, where 3,000 trees were blown down ripping
up curbs and sidewalks with their roots. Gibson estimated the Rocky
River cleanup would cost $50,000.

"It's not only a question
of getting a handout," said Minshall. "With the federal grant comes
army equipment and personnel to get the job done quickly."

The money would come
from a $10,000,000 fund which President Eisenhower may tap for major disasters.
The Plain Dealer's Washington Bureau explained that no federal donations
would go to private individuals.

For Public Work

Funds could be used for
work on public land deemed "essential for preservation of life and property."

While the West Side calculated
its damage and licked its wounds, efforts were going forward in Washington
to give Cleveland a better chance against future disastrous storms.

Queried by Congressman
Charles A. Vanik, Dr. Francis Reichelderfer, chief of the U.S. Weather
Bureau, disclosed that radar detecting equipment had been ordered for Cleveland.
He said he would expedite its installation.

The radar can spot a
severe storm well in advance of the time it hits. The equipment also
enables observers to determine the wind's direction and the amount of rain
it carries.

The Western Adjustment
& Inspection Co., which will handle claims for most of the insurance
companies holding policies on damaged properties, opened a special office
at 16501 Lorain Avenue to process storm losses.

It was manned by 40 adjusters,
many of them brought in from the company's offices in 13 midwestern states.

The resolution, introduced
under suspension of rules, described the storm as a "major disaster" and
said that "the windstorm, of tornado proportions, was sufficient to justify"
federal aid.

At the same time Rocky
River's Council enacted legislation declaring a formal state of emergency
and asking Gov. Lausche to apply for federal funds to aid in clearing debris
from the suburb. The amount was not specified.

As the two councils acted
Mayor Frank P. Celeste of Lakewood was in conference with two top Ohio
civil defense representatives on that suburb's request for federal assistance.

With Fred Bernard, Lakewood
civil defense director, the two had toured the suburb's stricken area.

"It's quite a mess,"
Col. Starr said.

He would not comment
on whether he thought the suburb would qualify for the federal designation
as a disaster area and subsequent grants of equipment and money.

Mayor J. Frank Gibson
of Rocky River talked with Col. Starr and Col. King at Mayor Celeste' s
office after the Rocky River Council meeting. He said he would formally
ask Gov. Lausche for aid this morning.

Mayor Celeste said Lakewood
asked federal funds between $500,000 and $600,000 for repairs to streets,
sidewalks and curbing and for cleaning up debris.

Col. Starr said he would
inform Maj. Gen. Leo M. Kreber, Ohio adjutant general, of the conditions
here. Gen. Kreber in turn would make a recommendation to Gov. Lausche as
to whether federal assistance was needed.

In Washington, U. S.
Sen. George H. Bender said that "if help is needed they will get it."
He said he would aid in every way to expedite aid if required.

Congressman William E.
Minshall said he had talked to Homer Gruenther, administrative assistant
to President Eisenhower, and alerted him to expect a possible request from
Gov. Lausche.

Gov. Lausche said he
expected a report on the storm damage today and would act upon receiving
it.

Both Celeste and Mayor
Gibson said their cities were hard pressed for money to handle the job,
Celeste said the W. 117th Street sewer explosion damages hit Lakewood hard.

Federal law permits the
government to aid stricken areas with equipment, supplies, personnel and
funds in cases where communities lack sufficient money of their own.

Celeste estimated Lakewood
suffered $6,000,000 damage in the storm, while Gibson said Rocky River
received a $1,500,000 blow. Cleveland's damages have been estimated
by various officials at "several million."

The storm's toll of injured
rose to 70 when Edward Ebby, 53, of Monroeville, was admitted to Lakewood
Hospital with fractured arms, a broken leg and a broken shoulder suffered
while removing a fallen tree. The number of dead remained at six.

Federal funds, if granted,
would be used to clear streets and other public property. Damage
on private property could be handled only if it endangered life or limb,
it was pointed out.

Corps of insurance adjusters
began arriving here to tackle the task of handling claims on property covered
by insurance.

The Western Adjustment
& Inspection Co., which represents a number of insurance firms, said
it was expecting 40 adjusters from its other offices to aid in processing
claims.

C. R. Johnson, manager
of the company here, said a special disaster office would be opened on
the West Side to handle the flood of claims expected.

While the number of claims
is expected to exceed the 10,000 made following the June, 1953, tornado,
the total in money is not likely to be as great, a survey of insurance
experts indicated.

One pointed out that
much of the storm damage was to trees, which in most cases are not included
under the usual insurance coverage. Since a larger area was stricken,
the claims are expected to be more numerous, it was added.

B. P. L. Carden, general
adjuster of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, New York, was expected
here today to coordinate catastrophe loss adjustment procedures for his
organization.

Joseph H. Bishop, secretary
of the Cleveland Insurance Board, estimated damages here probably would
be under the $8,075,000 paid out in claims following the 1953 tornado.
He said it might be a week before an estimate could be made on the actual
losses.

Bishop said the board
had offered to man disaster offices with insurance experts if Mayor Celebrezze
thought it was desirable. He added that adjusters were being sent here
by companies from such points as Louisville, Ky., New York and Chicago.

Red Cross Ready

Some insurance companies
arrange for contractors to make repairs, while others pay for repairs ordered
by the householders.

The Greater Cleveland
Red Cross Chapter said it expected its three disaster relief offices would
handle many applications for disaster relief assistance today.

They are at the Lakewood
Red Cross branch, 15621 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood; Second District police
headquarters, Daisy Avenue N. W. and Fulton Road, and Rocky River City
Hall, Hilliard and Wagar Roads.

Posters were placed in
the stricken areas directing victims to the three offices. Chapter
Chairman Loring L. Gelbach said the Red Cross had $40,000 to spend on aid
and would obtain more if needed.

Gelbach praised the Red
Cross canteen service for its work during the weekend. He said the
staff, under Mrs. Louis S. Fisher, worked from Saturday night at 11 through
Sunday night.

Power, Phones Restored

Public utilities reported
striked in restoring power and telephone service.

Vincent M. DeMelto, municipal
light commissioner, said all main feeder lines had been restored by yesterday
afternoon.

About 1,500 homes were
still without lights last night, DeMelto reported, because of the size
of the task.

Lights were out in scattered
locations in the in the Brooklyn area, from W. 110th to W. 126th Street
off Lorain Avenue, and on Denison Avenue. S. W. from W. 20th to W. 100th
Street.

DeMelto said the municipal
light system should be back to normal by tonight. He estimated the
storm cost the system $150,000 in materials and labor. This figure
includes permanent repairs to be made in weeks to come.

Street lights served
by the city will not be restored for at least a week, DeMelto said.
He estimated 5,000 street lights west of the Cuyahoga River were still
out.

The Cleveland Electric
Illuminating Co. said service was virtually restored to normal. CEI
estimated its loss in material and labor at $300,000.

5,500 Phones Knocked
Out

Cable splicers of the
Ohio Bell Telephone Co. worked last night under floodlights as the company
continued restoration of service. Ohio Bell said it had nearly 500
men working yesterday, including 10 crews sent here from Youngstown.

Clifton Club Fire - Top
- Flames roared through the frame of the Clifton Club yesterday morning
while all available Lakewood fireman struggled to bring them under control.
Bottom - The remains of the club, valued at $75,000. The loss was
fully recovered by insurance, club officers said.